Ericsson could reportedly fire 14,000 people in Europe and Latin America - "They're shutting down business"

Swedish network operator Ericsson has seen it’s business all but collapse in recent years. After a dismal second quarter, which saw revenues plummet eight percent, the company’s new CEO Börje Ekholm announced new cost-cutting measures. Last month, there were reports that up to a quarter of the company’s workforce would be fired.

Now sources with insight into Ericsson have told Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) that thousands of employees could lose their jobs – in Europe and Latin America alone.

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“We are talking about some 14,000 employees that will have to go. Exactly how it will happen is not clear. In essence, it will be a question of shutting down business in countries where sales have evaporated,” said the source to SvD.

It will be up to Arun Bansal, president of Europe and Latin America, to make the reported cuts in Ericsson’s biggest geographical business area, which employs 53,000 people. In terms of business functions, Networks - making up the company's core - is a big potential source of cuts.

Another endangered business area is IT & Cloud – which is not developing as was hoped.

”IT and Cloud is mismanaged, but it’s strategically important as it makes up next generation’s mobile network, 5G,” said a source to SvD.

The only jobs considered safe – at least in Sweden – are research & development engineers.

“It’s crucial that most of all the Swedish R&D department remains somewhat protected. They are the ones who will come up with the new solutions that will drive sales in the long term,” said a an anonymous source to SvD last month.